Many true crime documentaries detail the process of solving the crime as told by professional investigators and law enforcement. However, Netflix‘s Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer takes a different approach by placing amateur internet sleuths at the forefront. There are several things the Netflix show left out, including Luka Magnotta’s lifelong mental disorder.
‘Don’t F**k with Cats’ narrates Luka Magnotta’s downfall
Don’t F**k with Cats is a three-part Netflix docuseries that follows the murderer, Luka Magnotta. The story begins with a casino data analyst based in Las Vegas, Nevada, named Deanna Thompson, who was obsessed with the internet. In 2010, she was forwarded a video titled 1 boy 2 kittens. In the video, a young man with a hoodie on places two kittens inside a bag and snuffs out all the air in the bag, killing the kittens.
Horrified by the video, Thompson and a few other internet users formed a Facebook group dedicated to bringing the perpetrator to justice. The group brought Thompson and John Green together and immediately got to work hunting down clues that could help them identify the boy.
After some sleuthing, Thompson and Green located Magnotta’s apartment in Toronto after a series of dead ends. It also didn’t help that Magnotta began taunting the amateur investigators as his profile had liked the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Catch Me If You Can.
Then, Magnotta released another video of him feeding a kitten to a python. This video indicated that the unhinged Magnotta planned to escalate his behavior and take human life next. In 2012, Magnotta stabbed and dismembered a Chinese international student named Jun Lin, then sent his parts to different places.
Magnotta ensured his crime was recorded and uploaded to the internet. During the period before the crime, Magnotta also made no attempts to hide from the CCTV cameras. The crime eventually became national news, giving Magnotta the attention he desperately sought.
Netflix left out Magnotta’s mental health diagnosis for a reason
Netflix failed to include several key aspects of the case. For instance, the documentary included a brief clip of his mother defending him and discussing his mental state, revealing that he was bullied as a child. Aside from this, the killer‘s mental health is barely given the light of day, but this was intentional on Netflix’s part.
It’s difficult to highlight the crimes of a felon and drop in the information that he is mentally unstable. Luka Magnotta has spent most of his life creating new identities, lying about himself, and misrepresenting the truth. Therefore, highlighting his mental health issues could have made him look sympathetic.
Netflix also didn’t mention that Magnotta’s dad had received a schizophrenic diagnosis in 1994, which Magnotta received five years later and took medication for sometimes. However, there’s more to this story, as a month before killing Lin, Magnotta went to the hospital, where he described feeling impulsive and having insomnia. Therefore, Don’t F**k with Cats suggests the idea that either Magnotta made up his mental issues or greatly exaggerated them to avoid taking responsibility for all he’s done.
Luka Magnotta’s early brushes with the law
Luka Magnotta’s arrest and subsequent imprisonment for the murder of Jun Lin isn’t the first time he has been acquainted with law enforcement. Long before the murder, the killer had a brush with the law after impersonating a woman.
According to The Guardian, Magnotta applied for a credit card and used it to purchase over $100,000 worth of items from three retailers. Magnotta was arrested and charged with three counts of fraud, pleading guilty to all charges. Magnotta didn’t go to jail but got a nine-month conditional sentence and a year of probation.
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